ENGLAND HOPE TO REGAIN MOMENTUM

AGAINST SRI LANKA AT OVAL

England are aiming to regain momentum in their Royal London ODI Series with Sri Lanka at The Oval on Wednesday. Captain Eoin Morgan was still ruing rain in Bristol, and fearing more in London, as he assessed his team’s progress so far after they took a 1-0 lead with two matches to play against the tourists. England were prevented from cashing in on a fine bowling display on Sunday, when their run chase was stopped in its tracks by bad weather on 16-1. After a thrilling tie in the first match at Trent Bridge, then recordbreaking 10-wicket win at Edgbaston, England have therefore not yet sealed the series. Morgan acknowledges the stopstart nature of the campaign, and is aware there may still not be much continuity on Wednesday if the weather forecasters are proved right. “It’s certainly going to be one of the challenges over the next couple of games we play,” he said. “With a lot of weather around, that is always a huge challenge that it doesn’t become a distraction – and to switch on when we need to.” England are out to consolidate the improvements made after their embarrassingly early 2015 World Cup exit. “We want to play as much cricket as we can, and I suppose [the weather] has halted a little bit of the momentum we’ve had,” he said.

“Wednesday is about regaining that a little bit.” Most of Morgan’s team, like the rest of the country, were watching on TV as their football counterparts made a hugely disappointing exit from Euro 2016 at the hands of Iceland. As debate rages nationally about who should replace coach Roy Hodgson, who resigned after England’s 2-1 defeat, the limited-overs cricketers are living proof that triumphs can follow disappointments.